I'm wondering where these fish are coming from though, where they grew up.

It's hard to say but I assume most have simply wandered south from the central coast. If you go WAY BACK to the early years of the 20th century the Fish & Game used to stock stripers in some SoCal bays, especially Newport Bay. I guess some could trace back to those plantings but it's just hard to say. Over the years there have been sporadic reports of stripers along the SoCal beaches; not a lot but enough to keep it interesting._________________Support UPSAC! Preserve pier and shore angling in California.

Yes, there were some planted in mission bay too but there was some illegal gill netting going on in the San Diego river during those early years which distroyed most of the transplanted population. I hear it was real easy to catch everything too. Shame...